Status Update

June 16, 2017

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on here, so I wanted to give you all an update on what’s new with me.

In April, I met with my endocrinologist and we made some changes to my medication that have helped a lot with controlling my seizures and minimizing the accompanying brain fog. This helped me get out of the slump I’d been stuck in since February—I’ve had a much easier time concentrating, my energy levels have been better, and I’ve gotten a lot of work done during the last several months, including writing a few Patreon short stories, making major headway on New World and getting very close to wrapping up Cheerleaders From Planet X1)P.S. It’s a good thing that I did decide to hold off on this one, because, as I feared, the sections I wrote while sick are very nonsensical. So I’ve been having to do some retooling on those chapters to get the plot in order.. Things were going so well, in fact, that I felt relatively confident that I could get both books out by the end of this year.

But there always has to be something, right?

On Monday I went in for my six-month follow-up MRI to check on my pituitary tumor. Yesterday I found out that the tumor has grown, and there is a secondary growth (previously they thought it was a congenital cyst, but they ran a test during my MRI on Monday that showed it’s actually a tumor of the same kind) that also needs removal. We’d discussed radiation as a treatment, but my doctors and I ultimately decided we’re going to take one more chance on surgery to try and avoid the side effects that can come with radiation (particularly at my age—I’m 31, so the odds of me living long enough for some kind of problem to arise from radiation are higher than if I was older).

So, next month I’m going to be having neurosurgery again. I’m not sure how long that’s going to knock me out of commission, but I think at this point it would take a miracle for me to be able to get New World done in time to get it to my editor and have it out by the end of the year. I’d been trying to cling to that 2017 release date for New World, but at this point, I think we’re going to have to plan for early 2018.

However, I am fairly confident that Cheerleaders will be done this year without a problem. My goal is to have it to my editor before my surgery next month. If you signed up to receive an ARC, you should (hopefully) be hearing from me relatively soon!

Fans of the Iamos Trilogy, I am so sorry that I keep making you wait so long. If I’d had any clue what kind of ridiculous roller coaster ride my health was going to take over these past two years, I would have never released Fourth World in 2015. I truly, honestly thought I was going to be able to get each book out within six months of each other. I hope that it will be worth the wait when the rest of the series eventually makes it out. In the meantime, if you haven’t read Different Worlds yet, I hope you’ll check that out. It is a novella, but it’s just under the limit for a full-length novel, right at 200 pages. It fills in quite a bit of plot between Fourth World and New World, and I personally love the story even more than that of the first book. So I hope that will fill a little bit of that void and make up for the huge gap between the first two books.

P.S. It’s a good thing that I did decide to hold off on this one, because, as I feared, the sections I wrote while sick are very nonsensical. So I’ve been having to do some retooling on those chapters to get the plot in order.

2 Comments

Tabitha

July 4, 2017 at 9:29 AM

So sorry to hear you’ll need surgery again. 🙁 Sending good thoughts! And as an Iamos Trilogy fan, I’m okay with the wait; your health definitely comes first! I look forward to reading New World no matter when it comes out. 🙂